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Your Daily Marquette Dirty Dining (Places I’ll never eat at again): Post Bar Food at its worst

Marquette Gyros, or as the health department knows it “Gyro’s Delight” is hardly that. First of all I used to get a Chicken Bacon Swiss and fries there all the time and the guy had no idea who I was when I got in there. Second, have you ever used the bathroom in there? It makes me tremble. In hindsight I can’t believe anyone could go into that place and order food without a BAC. Ok here is what the health department found:

• There is an accumulation of grease on the filters. Hood filters must be cleaned as often as necessary to prevent the accumulation of grease
• There is a large chest freezer in the kitchen and the lid is broken. The seal does not work properly anymore and there is installation showing. Remove the unit from the kitchen area. Replace with an approved freezer.
• There was a raw turkey breast sitting on a shelf in the cooler over vegetables. Properly store all raw animal products below and away from ready to eat foods to prevent any possible cross contamination.
• There was no sanitizer bucket set up during inspection. Be sure to keep a bucket of sanitizer set up to the proper concentration during food prep times. Use the sanitizer to wipe down food contact surfaces to keep bacteria levels down.
• There is mold growing in the soda machine nozzles. Clean and maintain soda nozzles on a consistent basis.
• An employee was seen putting lettuce and tomatoes on a bun with bare hands. The employee stated that the store is out of gloves. Always keep a supply of gloves if gloves are to be worn to prevent bare hand contact. Alternate methods would include pastry tissues or tongs.
• A box of raw hamburger patties was sitting out on the counter near the gyro machine. An employee stated that this box was sitting there to thaw. This is not an approved method of thawing potentially hazardous foods. Thaw raw meat products in a mechanical refrigeration unit.

It’s like there is no place on campus for anyone to get burgers after bar close that doesn’t blatantly violate the health code…what are the poor hungry masses to do?

Thought I’d start with a shocker, and then brake in to the more well known violators starting with the Subway on 14th and Wells. Over the year I’ve eaten at this place a few dozen times –they take Marquette Cash, and one of the places I can find an Onion so big thumbs up-. I thought I’d be getting a little better quality of food, and if Jared can lose weight eating Subway it must be acceptable right?

If only. No roaches but this place does have some mold and sub-sanitary environments.

• There was no sanitizer bucket set up at sandwich prep line during food prep. Instruct employees to keep a sanitizer bucket set up at all times of food preparation for sanitizing food contact surfaces. Be sure to keep wiping cloths in the bucket in between uses
• Potentially hazardous food must be held hot at 135 degrees or above. Meatballs were found in the steam table at 120 degrees. Keep potentially hazardous foods being hot held at the proper temperature.
• The inside of the ice shoot on the soda machine in the customer area has some mold growth in it. Clean and sanitize the machine to remove all mold.
• Sanitizing solution was less than 50 ppm. Sanitizing solution should be 200 ppm. Fix solution dispenser.

Another place I won’t be heading back to until I forget about this post. It’s kind of depressing because for some reason I though this was one of the few quality places remaining on campus.

As a former resident of Minnesota I have always marveled at the expensive and time consuming emissions testing process that Wisconsin forces it’s drivers through every time they renew their tabs. It’s great to hear they are finally partially abandoning part of this wasteful program (HT: BnS) :

” Starting on July 1, cars and trucks built before 1996 will be exempt from having to undergo vehicle emissions inspections in southeastern Wisconsin. The latest figures in 2007 show that the change would have affected 28% of vehicles in the region - or about 175,000 cars.
..
The decision to give older cars a pass will also send more pollutants into the air until 2018. But other factors such as the use of reformulated gas will lessen the effects, officials say.
…
These and other features are part of a revamping of the state’s emissions inspection program for cars and trucks in seven counties, including all of metro Milwaukee.
…
The $13.3 million annual program - in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha and Sheboygan counties - is financed by the state transportation fund, the state’s general fund and other sources. “

It’s a start I guess. Minnesota removed their program back in 1999:

“She’s been convinced since 1994 that the extra money metro motorists were paying for the testing amounted to an unfair tax, Johnson said.

“What researchers have found is that the test originally identified the most troublesome polluters among older cars, but fewer and fewer vehicles were in violation because of new technology,” Johnson stated in a press release.
…
Haake also attributed the non-necessity of emissions testing to advancing technology.

She said the onset of testing never even caused a blip on the charts and that they found vehicle emissions were steadily declining at six percent a year.”

My favorite part of the article, and definitely the most revealing quote, is this:

“In committee testimony last session, lawmakers heard that it’s necessary to drive a modern car for thousands of miles to equal the amount of hazard[ous] emissions spewed by a lawnmower.”

So over the weekend in between studying I happened to catch the movie Waiting… juvenile comedy about the lovely dining conditions of Shenanigans (and one kitchens’ love for batwings, brains and goats)… that and it’s about sweeps time so local news (TMJ4 and the JS) loves to expose how terrible the dining conditions are at any given place. The Journal also under their Watch Dog section posts their Data on Demand of Milwaukee Restaurant inspections since 2007. We here at GOP3 feel like we’d take all this data and find out which Marquette Area restaurants are the most heinous violators. Though I’d like to note I’ll only be mentioning dining related violations. I figure I’ll be starting this post off right, exposing two eateries that aren’t just nearby Marquette, they’re actually Sodexho facilities. Here’s the report

Marquette Place at the AMU (From March of 2008):
• The filters over the char broiler are very greasy. Clean filters as often as necessary to keep them free of grease. Also there are several other filters throughout the kitchens that have a dust accumulation on them. Remove the dust build up to prevent it from falling into any food.
• The only refrigeration in the coffee shop for cold holding is the True counter top cooler. This cooler is made for bottled prepackaged foods only. The milk and the cream cheese being held in this cooler were found at 50 degrees. Provide commercial refrigeration designed to cold hold open potentially hazardous foods. Discontinue using the True cooler for any potentially hazardous foods.
• There was a pan of chicken thawing in the 2 compartment pan washing sinks in the main kitchen area. All food prep, including thawing, is to be done in the designated food prep sinks.
• The sanitizer bucket set up in the coffee shop was at 0ppm. For an Iodine sanitizer the concentration should be between 12.5 and 25 ppm. If using a quaternary ammonium sanitizer, the concentration is to be about 200ppm. Sanitizer bucket solutions need to be checked and changed out when concentration is no longer strong enough.
• The dish wash machine in the coffee shop had empty bottles of detergent, rinse aid and sanitizer chemicals. Employee stated they sprinkle some type powder detergent in the dish washer before running it. This type of dish washer is set up to use liquid chemicals. Discontinue using the powder detergent and keep all chemicals stocked at dish machine. The dishes that were being run through the machine were not being sanitized when the chemical bottles were empty.
• The under counter dish machine in the coffee shop is sitting directly on the floor and there is a dirty grease like accumulation building up under and around it. All equipment is to be 6 inches up off the floor for cleaning purposes unless conditionally approved otherwise. If the area around the dish machine cannot be maintained, the dish machine will be ordered up on legs or wheels. Clean floor and keep clean.
• The open front cooler in the customer area of the coffee shop was found at 55 degrees. Inspector tested some food and smoothies stored in the cooler and found them to be at temperatures between 48 and 50 degrees. Any potentially hazardous foods in this cooler must remain at 41 degrees or less. Discard any potentially hazardous foods that have been in the cooler more than 4 hours over 41 degrees.

Also the True glass door cooler behind the counter had milk and cream cheese that were found at 50 degrees. Again all potentially hazardous foods being cold held must be
• There is a new conveyor dish machine installed in kitchen. When tested for properl wash and sanitizing temperatures, the test strip did not register that the machine was reaching the 180 final rinse temp for sanitizing. Have machine repaired to function properly to sanitize dishes
• A dead German cockroach was noted in a monitor station under the dish washer. Manager had said there is a slight roach infestation and they have pest control working on it. Inspector did not see any lie roaches and it appears to be mostly under control. Continue to monitor activity and keep effective pest control measures to eliminate the roaches.

The Annex (From October of 2007):
• Hoods, ducts, and fans must be clean as often as necessary to prevent the accumulation of grease.
• There was no sanitizer bucket set up at the food prep cook line upon arrival. Instruct employees to set up and maintain a sanitizer bucket at food prep areas during any food prep times.
• Some parts of the floor in the kitchen area are in need of cleaning. Clean under all the cooking equipment, under shelving and in the walk in coolers to remove any grease, water of food debris build up.

Also there is some mold growth in the beer cooler walk in. Clean walk in walls, ceiling and fans to remove any mold growth.

It’ll be hard to top this but don’t forget about reliable Ziggies, MU Gyros and Real Chili’s for some disgusting violations.

Here’s a video of the recently pulled North Carolina GOP ad attacking Barak Obama and two Democrat candidates that are running for Governor of the state that both endorsed B. Hussein. McCain seemed to be a driving force behind the removal of the commercial. Here is a snippet of Amanda Carpenter’s Town Hall column on the subject:

Critics said the ad, which also discusses Obama voting record on crime, was possibly racist and Republican presidential candidate John McCain called on the North Carolina Republicans to quit airing the spot repeatedly.

At a campaign stop in New Orleans McCain said: “I cannot in my role dictate to the North Carolina Republican Party what their message is but I can condemn it I can appeal to the overwhelming majority of Republicans in North Carolina who also repudiate that kind of activity and I am calling on them to repudiate the people the small handful of people that have refused to understand that we are the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and that party–that Republican Party–there is no room for this kind of activity.”

North Carolina Republican leaders defied McCain by defending the spot.
“This ad presents a question of patriotism and judgment. It is entirely appropriate for voters to evaluate candidates based on their past associations,” said Chairwoman Linda Daves after McCain disowned the ad. She said the ad was not meant to attack Obama outright, but to question other persons who had endorsed Obama.

So usually I would just write a post about something like this myself especially since I was present at the occurrence, but Dr. McAdams has already done so on his MU Warrior blog. His post is a summary and an analysis of what happened in Dr. Snow’s Philosophy of Crime and Punishment class on Thursday, April 3. That class is a prime example of the viewpoint discrimination that is extremely prevalent at Marquette and at other institutions of higher learning around the country, which is why I wanted to link his post here.

I was present in Dr. Snow’s class when my classmate, Greg Karge, was intellectually assaulted in class based on his comments on race and the police. Overall, this class is very discussion-based, which I really do enjoy; however not all viewpoints are equally respected.

As a side note, I wanted to support Greg, but I was afraid that my opinion would also be unreasonably criticized and suppressed. So after the class, especially when I saw the professor pulled Greg aside afterwards and after receiving his “apology” email, I felt that I had not only let Greg down, but I also had failed to stand up against viewpoint discrimination.

I used to be a NASCAR fan. For some reason I was enamored with the melding of man and machine as 43 drivers made left turns for hours on end on Sunday afternoon. What I loved the most was the fact that I could watch the first 20 laps of a race, fall asleep and wake up for the last fifteen and pretty much not miss a single thing (except a really awesome crash). However, once I started to think about it, I realized how terrible Big NASCAR really is. And now, I have to be the whistle blower on Big NASCAR.

Well, it’s my theory that NASCAR, with the help of evil corporations, is keeping the environmental lobby down. Ironically, Big Tobacco got out of the NASCAR game a few years ago. Even Philip Morris must have thought NASCAR was too evil of an empire. If environmentalists were true to their cause, they would have been out protesting every race since the advent of global warning. Let’s do the math on this one: There are 43 NASCAR drivers in the average race. If each race averages 400 miles, which means 43 cars go 17,200 miles every Sunday. There are 37 races every year meaning that those cars go 636,400 every year. And that’s only for one of the NASCAR series, to which there are three top tier levels. This all equates to nearly two million miles — just for racing sport — every year.

Now, this doesn’t even account for the 250,000-plus people that drive to each track every Sunday, the practices, the travel each NASCAR team endures throughout a season and the amount of garbage that comes from every hot dog, old style and nacho platter. Don’t forget about every local race track that attempts to destroy the environment on the state and local level. Overall NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 39 states, Canada, and Mexico. NASCAR is trying to flood the world with garbage.

Consider the amount of gas and tires that are used during the average NASCAR race. NASCAR teams have to go through at least 6500 tires a year on races alone. Where will all those tires go? I guess we can add Firestone to the list of Big Business that are in on this conspiracy to ruin the environment.

Big Oil obviously has to be the single largest contributor to the NASCAR industrial complex. Race cars average 4.6 mpg. That means race cars on the NASCAR Sprint level go through nearly 3 million gallons of gas every year! I can’t even begin to think of what the Nationwide, Craftsmen Truck Series or every amateur level race car driver adds to this ridiculously huge Complex.

Obviously NASCAR is just a ploy to keep Big Oil profits high, systematically destroy the atmosphere over most of the south, and perpetuate global warming. Why do you think it is so warm in the south? You don’t think the pollution from all those cars has anything to do with it? NASCAR has been at it for over 60 years, you can’t tell me that those original drivers, crews and owners didn’t scheme up global warming and oil prices from the very beginning. Though I could argue that this whole conspiracy didn’t start until 1990 when Tom Cruise filmed the Jerry Bruckheimer movie Days of Thunder. Is it possible that NASCAR used this movie to buy Tom Cruise and Hollywood elite thus making Global Warming a sham? Could the movie also ensured this sham by promising Fred Thompson a position in government, with a possible shot at the presidency?

Is it not obvious that many major corporations are involved in this huge conspiracy? Internationally, NASCAR races are broadcast in over 150 countries. It holds 17 of the top 20 attended sporting events in the U.S., and has 75 million fans who purchase over $3 billion in annual licensed product sales. Obviously NASCAR is just fueling a giant corporate machine. Why else would cars drive around with signals painted all over the cars even though it would be so much easier for every car to be sponsored by Halliburton. Can anyone else thing of a good reason why the US Army car is number 1? The most obvious example of a signal has to be from Dale Earnhardt Jr. who now drives the 88 National Guard Car in NASCAR Sprint and his team owns the number 88 Navy Car in the Nationwide series. A signal to both Bush Administrations perhaps? A signal to General Petraeus signaling the surge is working? Signaling the successful gas and tire price fixing, driving gas to nearly $4.00 a gallon? Jeff Gordon may be the only driver attempting to signal other groups to this huge conspiracy to drive oil prices up. His rainbow colored car has to be a signal to liberals. He’s trying to alert the liberals about the NASCAR Industrial Complex but the complex is keeping him down by making him a repetitiously bad driver.

So now I call upon every environment crazy to get out and protest at the tracks holding signs. “BUSH LIED NASCAR DRIVED” and fight Big NASCAR. Because if Big NASCAR can be taken down, global warming as we know it could be ended, and our demand for foreign oil could be eliminated, thus saving humanity and keeping Dick Cheney from ruling all.

Charlton Heston, movie actor, civil rights and second amendment advocate has passed away.

Here are three clips from his speech to the National Rifle Association in 1989:

His speech is nearly 20 years old, but his points as relevant as ever.

I began my morning surf of the web where I do every day, at the Drudge Report. Drudge linked to this story about the number of worldwide Muslims overtaking the number of worldwide Catholics.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday.

Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican’s newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world’s population and Catholics 17.4 percent.

“For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us,” Formenti told Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano in an interview, saying the data referred to 2006.

He said that if all Christian groups were considered, including Orthodox churches, Anglicans and Protestants, then Christians made up 33 percent of the world’s population — or about 2 billion people.

Are there more Muslims than Catholics? Seems so.

But I just spent the afternoon randomly attending my first University-sponsored Mass at Gesu (I always go in the morning) in several semesters, unexpectedly celebrating, along with hundreds of Marquette Catholics, the voluntary entrance of thirty-some students into the fullness of the Catholic faith, among them two full adult baptisms, four (may have been six) conversions to Catholicism, and over twenty Confirmations.

Like everything, these two events have me thinking about economics.

Here we have thirty-some individuals of their own accord voluntarily responding to the call to experience God in the highest manner possible, in the Catholic, Christian faith. It’s a free market-driven decision. In response to their own spiritual need, these men and women voluntarily sought out the one source that can optimally meet their spiritual and religious needs.

And it’s an event that has happened everyday, everywhere for two millennia.

Conversely, a religion whose name literally means “surrender” advances as most do through births but most prominently and recently, through the sword. For modern Muslims, faith is a voluntary measure; unfortunately, this is not the case for all. In fact, the system of conversion throughout history has tended towards forced rather than voluntary conversion.

Which system is built to survive?

Consider, if you can, economic systems of allocating resources. The 20th Century saw just about every system imaginable, from laissez-faire capitalism to social-democracy to collectivism. We kept hearing that freedom was archaic and that people needed to learn to live with more accountability by our government betters.

Of course, Western capitalism eventually prevailed over socialism because freedom is simply a better method of organizing resources. Allowing people the opportunity to freely join their interests and needs to their capabilities drove innovation, growth, and prosperity. Coercion proved unworkable.

Similarly, in the long haul, I’d bet on the religion in the West which made abundance and progress possible in the first place. It won’t need coercion to succeed (though coercion may drive it away at times, see also Europe), because the free market solution that permits individuals to seek the truth in its most highly allocative manner will always end up at the same place.

Congratulations to all those involved in the sacraments of initiation today!

Scott Walker released a new video in the past day highlighting his commitment to keeping jobs in Milwaukee by holding the line on taxes. The video has him with the Miller Brewery in the background. Aside from the ‘official’ Good Scott/Bad Scott commercial that appeared during the nightly news, this is my favorite Scott Walker video.

It’s important to know that we have a quality county executive that believes in keeping jobs in Wisconsin through lowering taxes – other than his opponent who believes in raising taxes-.

On a second Scott Walker note, he attended another forum today where he debated Lena Taylor. Taylor of course came out again saying she believes in letting juvenile criminals off easy. She also did not oppose the court of appeals decision to give up to $5,000 to every convicted criminal. Walker of course took a hard-line stance against paying convicted criminals and of course he has a long and proud record of being hard on crime and keeping Milwaukee safe.

Finally I was one of about 20 volunteers this past weekend that did a big push for Scott Walker during the two St. Patrick’s Day Parades. The first parade was fun, no real altercations except for the guy that chanted behind Walker. Dad29 claimed the protester to be ‘capper’ but I found out that his name is Jerry that works for the busses… unless they are one in the same?

I also walked alongside the County Executive in the second parade it Wauwatosa. Minus a few less then coherent people asking Scott to raise their taxes or end the war, everyone was real receptive, except for the four total Lena supporters that were classy enough to ‘boo’. A few of the official Taylor supporters confronted a few of the Walker supporters that were walking the parade route beforehand asking them how they could be so soulless and to support Taylor instead. I thought they were kidding at first and another Walker volunteer offered to play along, but it went downhill quickly as soon as the verbal harassment from the Taylor volunteers began.